El Viento Bajo Mis Alas
by Frostedwitch
Summary: The murals above the gateway to Shantytown had been there for generations, nobody knew who had painted them but whoever it was knew something, something about angel like skeletons with wings. It's a wingfic y'all.


Miguel disappeared in a blinding light and fluffy of petals just as the dawns gleam touched over the balcony, leaving marigolds drifting down peacefully to the floor as the only sign he was ever there at all. Hèctor managed a smile. "He's safe." He breathed, his eyes slipping closed with pure exhaustion.

"That's right, he's safe, we got him home." Imelda soothed, her hand still holding his though she didn't need to anymore, they had used the petal, their great-great-grandson had been sent back to the Land of the Living.

"... We did it..." He tried to grin at her, only just managing to tilt his head the slightest bit towards her and his lips twitch up into a sad memory of the loving smirk he used to give her when they were alive. "Mmhh." He breathed out a groan when another flash trembled through his bones. "Imelda... I'm sorry..."

"Shut up you idiota." She hissed, her hands clutching tighter at his. "It's alright."

"No... you need to know... I-I never stopped... never stopped trying to come home to you... never stopped loving you... you and Coco, my girls..." He swallowed thickly, his free hand struggling to reach up and stroke his knuckles along her jaw. "... I'm sorry... I always... always loved you..."

"Don't you dare." She gasped, tears shining in her eyes without a care that her family was watching and stepping a little closer, like they could protect them from the world if they stood together. "You're trying to say goodbye … but I don't want you to go, you can't leave me, not again." She caught his hand in hers, pressing her cheekbone to it.

"... I don't think I have a choice..." He groaned against another spasm of light.

"I know." She sobbed, tears spilling down her face.

His eyes were barely open, yet still completely focused on her even as the light grew brighter, his facial markings glowing. "Mhhhh, it hurts..." His hands seized in her grip, clenching around her fingers as he tried to cope with the pain. "... I'm glad that I got to see you again... one last time... you're here..."

"And I'm not going anywhere, we're together again everything will be alright." She tried to give him a smile, neither of them could be fooled by her words, they both knew how this was going to end.

"Imelda... mi amor, you were my everything... you and Coco were my dream come true... and I'm thankful I could have that dream... even if it was only for a little while..." His voice was growing weaker and barely able to be heard.

"And you were mine, if I could I would do it all again, in any life I would always choose you." She pressed her lips to his hand, his eyes were still watching her through mere slits, the rest of his face gone slack and his fingers gave one last twitch beneath hers. His eyes fell closed finally and the light overwhelmed him, glowing like a brightly burning flame. "No!" She cried, "Hèctor! No, no, no!" Little sparks of light like dying embers rose into the air as his bones turned to dust, collapsing in on themselves. She still held fiercely onto his hands, unwilling to let go even when all hope was lost.

The air around her felt alive with power, like electricity in the air before a thunderstorm and the light taking her husband away only grew brighter, far too bright. All of them flinched away from the blinding glow, her hands dropping his to shield herself. There was a great spark of energy that was gone as soon as it had come and the light died away.

Imelda blinked furiously, trying to gather her sight back from the temporary blindness and the first thing she saw was Hèctor's face, still whole and here, laying peacefully just as he had been a moment ago. She let out a relieved sob, her eyes a little wild and a grin on her lips.

"Dios mio..." Julio breathed behind her.

"He's got..." Victoria began before trailing off in shock.

"Wings..." Felipe concluded, his eyes wide and hat clutched in his hands, his brother wearing an identical expression at his side.

She stared down at the man she had called the love of her life, it was true a pair of large white feathered wings lay at his sides, long flight feathers reaching down past his feet. What on earth was going on?

"... He's not disappearing anymore!" Rosita gave a nervous laugh, all of them crowing around the pair. "I don't understand but this is wonderful!"

Imelda gave a weak nod, reaching out a trembling hand to touch a nearby feather of one wing, it was so smooth and soft beneath her bones, and so very real, he was real. Her fingers trailed down to find his hand again where it had fallen to the floor, he was still here and real!

"Uh, Imelda I don't want to hurry you but there is a crowd of thousands of people right behind here and I think they're going to find us soon." Oscar spoke up, worriedly glancing towards the stage they had come from, knowing what the girls had done and that people must have seen what had happened, eventually some people were bound to come looking for them.

"I think that's the last thing we need right now." Felipe agreed.

"But what are we supposed to do with him?" Victoria questioned, staring around at her family members.

Imelda sucked in a harsh breath, her hand furiously rubbing away tears that still lingered on her cheekbones. "We take him home." She decided, knowing that her family needed her to lead them. "We can try to sort this out there we just need to go somewhere private where we can think."

Her brothers gently gathered Hèctor up between them while she whistled for Pepita who came back down looking incredibly pleased with herself and was purring when Imelda climbed up on her back, with caution and a jointed effort they got Hèctor up on the alebrije. When the rest of her family had managed with a squeeze to climb aboard they were off through the sky, she leaned forward with her husband practically pinned beneath her to ensure he wouldn't slide off.

It felt it had been an age when they finally landed in their courtyard, the walls around their house keeping out any curious eyes as the twins took ahold of the unconscious man again, one of his arms pulled across either twins shoulders. They paused and both looked at their sister with an unasked question, waiting for instructions. "Let's get him into my room." She nodded, before leading the way into the house and on towards her own bedroom. Oscar and Felipe grumbled to themselves as they followed, Hèctor's large wings were dragging along on the floor and they struggled not to trip up. "Bring him over here." She called, opening the door and walking across the room, already pulling back the bed covers. They got him into the bed, laying on his side with his impressive wings draped across the width of the mattress behind him, his feathers reaching down the other side to brush against the floor.

"So?" Oscar began, eyeing her as she warily observed the new body parts.

"What should we do?" Felipe asked.

Imelda leaned forward, Hèctor facing away from her and her hand reached out to touch at the base of his wings, she found that sure enough they were certainly attached, a new set of smaller scapula like bones just tucked under his original set. Strangely, or perhaps rightly so the wings were just as devoid of flesh as they all were, the soft feathers digging themselves directly into his bones in a most peculiar way.

The rest of the family had gathered around her, staring with her. "What can we do?" Victoria murmured. "The man has wings, I've never seen anything like it, I bet nobody has."

"But perhaps surely someone must know about this? Someone who's been here a long time?" Rosita suggested, her doe eyes glancing around her family.

"Or a doctor." Julio nodded.

"Or we just ask him when he wakes up." Felipe shrugged. "He's been here longer than us and they're his wings, maybe he knew this would happen?"

"That's if he wakes up." Oscar frowned, only for Rosita to jab her elbow into his ribs with something of a glare.

"You know what." Imelda sighed as she turned towards them. "It's been a very long night and you all must be tired, why don't you all go get some rest?"

"But Mama Imelda, where will you sleep?" Rosita questioned gently, glancing nervously between her and the unconscious man.

She shrugged. "It's fine, I'm not really tired right now, I think I'll sit with him for a while."

"Well if you're sure..." Victoria frowned.

"I am, now to bed with all of you." She herded everyone out of her room and closed the door behind them. Secretly pleased when they were gone, as much as she loved her family she wanted some quiet time alone to think right now and there was certainly a lot to think about. She pulled a chair over from her vanity table to sit at his side and couldn't help but notice how grubby he seemed in her clean bedding with his ragged clothes, the wings had ripped apart the back of the remaining scraps of a jacket he wore, leaving only the surviving sleeve and some rags hanging around his shoulders. She tugged up her soft purple bed covers over him and tucking them around his ribs to allow for the ridiculously large wings, they suited him she couldn't help but think, he'd always had been a tall lanky thing, the new bones only added to that effect.

"What have you gotten yourself into this time?" She murmured gently, reaching out and brushing away hair from his closed eyes, his ribs steadily rising and falling with his breath. It was a pleasant reminder he was still here, he was here and breathing, he hadn't disappeared yet.

She could only hope here was where he'd continue to stay.


End file.
